A book I bought myself from the lovely Jane Badger Books – Jane republishes classic horse and pony books that have gone out of print, doing lots of research on the original texts, covers and illustrations – a very apt candidate for Kaggsysbookishramblings and LizzySiddal’s “Read Indies month“! You can find Jane’s books here and a lovely interview I did with her for Shiny New Books here. Although I’m still reading books acquired in 2019, this was a lovely one to pick off the TBR shelf and I fairly galloped (sorry!) through it!
Diana Pullein-Thompson -“I Wanted a Pony”
(15 January 2020)
A classic pony story but a very down-to-earth one, which I really appreciated. There is grumpiness and a distinct lack of miracles, although we do have the standard pony novel aspects of absent parents and a way to get hold of a pony of one’s own …
Augusta, desperate for a pony like the ones the fancy cousins she has to live with will occasionally let her ride, has to work hard to improve her riding, previously learned on a recalcitrant Shetland with a far more fun-seeming friend, teaching the small pony tricks and bouncing around. She has to work hard to save up to buy a pony at an auction and then to work out what on Earth is wrong with him: she also looks after her own pony, unlike her cousins, who outsource all the work to their stable hand. There’s a lot of bad temper and bickering and sitting on her own with a book: Augusta gets on better with the servants than she does with her family, and I like that about her.
In this matter-of-fact novel, girl and pony do not end up at Olympia but at the local show, and that’s something else I liked about it: a lot more relatable than some books, although of course we have a young teen wandering the lanes on her own quite a lot!
There’s a publishing history in the back, a bio of Diana Pullein-Thompson and an explanation of show-jumping faults, plus the original text and illustrations.
Laura
Feb 16, 2021 @ 11:47:06
I never had anything to do with actual horses or ponies when I was a kid but I loved the Jill pony books by Ruby Ferguson! I think I tried something by one of the Pullein-Thompson sisters but couldn’t get on with it as well.
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Liz Dexter
Feb 16, 2021 @ 11:56:28
The Jill books are The Best, love them. I did go riding from age about 8-11 and bizarrely could still remember how to do it when I got on ponies and horses in about 2010 and then 2017! The P-Ts can sometimes be a bit trickier, in that there’s more technical stuff and less immediately attractive heroines, although I like all their stuff, too. But I’m a pony book nut!
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Laura
Feb 16, 2021 @ 12:39:28
I haven’t read a Jill book for a long time but I remember the narrative voice being just delightful! Yeah, I know nothing about riding so that might have been what tripped me up with the others.
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Liz Dexter
Feb 16, 2021 @ 13:32:44
If you fancy pony books now, Victoria Eveleigh’s books are wonderful – two series, both excellent.
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MarinaSofia
Feb 16, 2021 @ 12:36:49
God I loved the Jill books and all of the Pullein-Thompson ones too. I so desperately wanted a pony or even just to ride other people’s ponies as a child, but my mother was always afraid I might injure myself. I did finally do a bit of riding on holiday at the age of 15-16 and remember it was considerably more painful than I had expected!
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Liz Dexter
Feb 16, 2021 @ 13:33:33
Yes indeed, I forget that bit and I’m quite fit, but not in that specific way! I only fell off once but I was very conservative as a pony girl and used to like grooming them and doing dressage more than rushing around and jumping!
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wadholloway
Feb 16, 2021 @ 13:11:27
My youngest daughter would have killed for a pony. We did what we could with riding lessons and going along to pony club but the cost of actually maintaining one was way beyond our means.
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Liz Dexter
Feb 16, 2021 @ 13:34:19
You might as well just throw a pile of cash into the wind! I’m not sure I wanted one of my own, but I do love riding still and really need to find some more opportunities once lockdown eases!
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hopewellslibraryoflife
Feb 16, 2021 @ 15:17:32
Off to investigate this publisher. Thank you!
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Liz Dexter
Feb 16, 2021 @ 15:33:08
Hooray! She has paperback and e-book versions of most of the books.
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hopewellslibraryoflife
Feb 17, 2021 @ 00:03:45
I loved it! I spent way too much of my workday browsing her web site.
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Jane
Feb 16, 2021 @ 16:47:32
This is such a good introduction thank you not for me but for plentiful gifts to horse mad friends!
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Liz Dexter
Feb 16, 2021 @ 16:53:26
Oh fantastic! I’m so pleased! They make great gifts for horsey folk of course.
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heavenali
Feb 16, 2021 @ 16:59:17
How lovely you could join in with Readindies by reading a pony book.
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Liz Dexter
Feb 16, 2021 @ 17:15:25
Yes, it was very fortuitous!
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imogenglad
Feb 16, 2021 @ 17:14:18
I used to love the Pullein-Thompson sisters ‘ books. And the Jill books! I can still remember the disappointment I felt after walking up from an amazing dream of having my own gymkhana style set up and remembering it wasn’t true! 😂
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Liz Dexter
Feb 16, 2021 @ 17:16:39
Oh no!! I always wanted to go to a gymkhana and be suddenly able to Do The Things, while knowing I wasn’t really very good at any of it!! Jane’s doing a wonderful job republishing so many super books, including digging out the original texts – a real delight!
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imogenglad
Feb 16, 2021 @ 17:21:43
Yeah I was actually hopeless at jumping and nearly fell off every time. But I liked competing vicariously, then I moved onto to Jilly Cooper!! Such a good publishing idea to make all these books available
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Liz Dexter
Feb 16, 2021 @ 18:25:44
I was very scared of jumping and still am. Ambling along fine, cantering on an Icelandic horse in Iceland in overalls still surprisingly fine!
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kaggsysbookishramblings
Feb 16, 2021 @ 20:19:59
Lovely choice for #ReadIndies, particularly as you do love those pony books
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kaggsysbookishramblings
Feb 16, 2021 @ 20:21:23
(Hit enter too early)! I was going to go on and say that I remember lots of Christine Pullein-Thompson pony books being around when I was young – probably Armada editions which were sitting on the shelves in the bookshop next to the various Enid Blytons I was collecting. Happy days!
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Liz Dexter
Feb 17, 2021 @ 06:26:52
Yes, definitely in those Armada editions and I have a few from before times, although I can’t currently get to the children’s shelves in the spare room to check! I’m reading a Dean Street Press book at the moment and hoping to get to Manchester Art Gallery, Unbound and a self-published one by the end of the month …
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Ste J
Feb 17, 2021 @ 11:20:07
I remember editing a book about horse stories, it was strangely appealing and so is this one, not sure why they seem so appealing but I wouldn’t say neigh to one if it was in a shop… sorry.
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Liz Dexter
Feb 17, 2021 @ 15:02:50
Ha, very good! What was the horse stories book?
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Ste J
Feb 17, 2021 @ 18:34:19
I can’t remember now as it was a while back but I found it stupidly addictive, I will see if I can find out what it was.
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Deb Nance at Readerbuzz
Feb 17, 2021 @ 12:48:17
I’d love to read this one. I can think of a dozen pony fans around here who would, too.
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Liz Dexter
Feb 17, 2021 @ 15:03:18
They are so great, I’ve bought and read a few of them plus Jane’s book on pony books.
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lizipaulk
Feb 17, 2021 @ 14:27:21
I don’t know if you remember but back in 1970s England, W.H. Smith’s would have an annual kids’ contest where they would give away a pony to the winner…. I can only imagine what the poor parents thought of this when their kid won one! Can’t imagine that being ok for nowadays. ;-}
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Liz Dexter
Feb 17, 2021 @ 15:02:29
Yes, it was in association with Pony magazine! Jane has written about that on her blog!
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JacquiWine
Feb 18, 2021 @ 09:12:43
Lovely to hear that this comes with the original illustrations. Always a bonus with this kind of book!
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Liz Dexter
Feb 19, 2021 @ 08:23:01
Yes, indeed, she’s meticulous in her research.
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